Anti strip overcap for metal screw caps for bottles or containers

ABSTRACT

This device consists of a rigid overcap which is applied over a usual metal pilferproof screw cap bottle or container closure. It has means to reduce the possibility of stripping the threads of the metal screw cap, which can occur when a screw cap is overtightened or turned too much in a clockwise direction, as is sometimes done by a user. Such an overcap acts as a safety device, since if the threads of such a screw cap are stripped, the cap can be blown off the bottle in case of carbonated or pressurized fluids in the bottle. Such overcap also improves mechanical advantage and thereby eases opening of screw caps from narrow necked bottles or containers.

United States Patent 1 1 Coven et a1.

[ June 3, 1975 [75] Inventors: Monroe J. Coven; Chester C. Moss,

both of Brooklyn, NY.

[73] Assignee: Monarch Wine Co., Inc., Brooklyn,

[22] Filed: Oct. 25, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 409,762

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 264,123 7/1963 Australia 215/334 Primary Examiner-Herbert F. Ross Attorney, Agenl, 0r FirmJ. B. Felshin; Marvin Feldman [57] ABSTRACT This device consists of a rigid overcap which is applied over a usual metal pilferproof screw cap bottle or container closure. It has means to reduce the possibility of stripping the threads of the metal screw cap, which can occur when a screw cap is overtightened or turned too much in a clockwise direction, as is sometimes done by a user. Such an overcap acts as a safety device, since if the threads of such a screw cap are stripped, the cap can be blown off the bottle in case of carbonated or pressurized fluids in the bottle. Such overcap also improves mechanical advantage and thereby eases opening of screw caps from narrow necked bottles or containers.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures ANTI STRIP OVERCAP FOR METAL SCREW CAPS FOR BOTTLES R CONTAINERS This invention relates to bottle or container closures.

One object of this invention is to provide an overcap for a metal pilferproof screw cap, having means to remove the combination overcap, screw cap closure from the bottle when the user twists the overcap in the nor mal counter-clockwise opening direction, but not to strip the threads of the inner metal screw cap if the twist is made in the clockwise closing direction.

Another object of this invention is to provide a combination closure of the character described in which the overcap has an internal knurled ring portion which engages a matching external knurled ring portion on the screw cap, the arrangement being such that if the overcap is turned in the counter-clockwise direction, it will unscrew the screw cap and if the overcap is turned excessively in a clockwise direction, the overcap will ratchet or slip and turn relative to the screw cap after the screw cap is fully closed, to thereby prevent stripping of the threads of the screw cap.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a combination closure of the character described which shall add mechanical advantage to make it easier to unscrew the metal screw cap from the neck of the bottle.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a combination closure of the character described having ratchet means to make it easier to rotate the overcap relative to the screw cap when rotating the overcap in a clockwise (closing) direction, to allow for slippage between the overcap and the screw cap in such direction. but to make it more difficult to have slippage between the overcap and screw cap when turning the overcap in a counter-clockwise (opening) direction.

A further object of this invention is to provide a strong and highly improved closure for a bottle neck, which shall be inexpensive to manufacture, easy to manipulate, safe in use, attractive in appearance and yet practical and efficient to a high degree.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of invention will be indicated in the following claims.

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a bottle neck provided with a metal cap that has not yet had its threads rolled into it, and with parts broken away and in crosssection;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a bottle neck provided with a combination closure embodying the invention;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the bottle neck with the metal cap thereon with its threads rolled and showing the overcap in dot-dash outline;

FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing a modifled form of the invention; and

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the structure of FIG. 2,, but with the overcap, together with the screw cap removed and raised above the bottle neck.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, 10 designates a bottle or container provided with a neck 11 formed with an annular flange 12 about an inch below its upper end. Above the flange 12 is an external screw thread 13. Below the threaded portion 13 is an annular collar 13a having an external diameter equal to the diameter of the crests of the thread 13. Collar [30 has an annular undershoulder 13b. Below undershoulder 13b is a reduced neck 13c extending down to flange 12. This bottle is of usual and well known construction.

Fitted onto the portion of the neck 11 above the flange 12, is a metal screw cap 15 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. This cap is made of sheet aluminum or the like material, and is also well known in the art, and has been used by itself on bottle necks. This screw cap 15 has a circular top wall 16 from which a skirt 19 projects downwardly. Said skirt 19 has an upper ratchet or zigzagging annular knurled portion 20 just below the top wall 16, forming alternating ridges 21 and grooves or depressions 22, all around the skirt.

Below the ratchet or knurled portion 20 is an annular groove 23. Below the annular groove 23 is a threaded portion 24 which engages the threaded portion of the bottle neck above the flange 12. Below the threaded portion 24 is an annular outwardly extending upper collar 25 of curved cross-section engaging the collar 13a and formed with a circle of slits 26 to provide a lower collar 27 also encircling the collar 13a and having a lower inturned annular flange 28 engaging the undershoulder 13b.

Screw caps on bottle necks such as described and illustrated herein are well known.

It is usual to first fit a screw cap 30 such as shown in FIG. 1 onto the upper end of a bottle shown herein. Cap 30 is like cap 15 except that the threads 24 are not yet formed. The cap 30 has a cylindrical portion 31 which are rolled to provide the threads 24, after the cap has been applied to the bottle. Also the cap 30 has a cylindrical skirted lower end 32, the lower portion of which is rolled under the flange 12 to form the flange 28, after the cap 30 has been applied to the bottle. The cap 30 is snapped down on the upper end of the bottle neck. The cylindrical portion 31 is of a diameter to receive the bottle neck threads 13.

With such prior construction, the screw cap can be turned in a counter-clockwise (opening) direction, severing the small portions 35 of cap material between the ends of the slits 26, to allow the cap to be unscrewed and removed, leaving on the neck of the bottle, the lower collar portion 27 with its inturned flange 28. The material of which the screw cap is made is pliable enough to allow for rolling of the threads and the flange 28 and for severing of the connecting portions 35. The cap, can be rescrewed in a clockwise (closing) direction, onto the threaded portion of the bottle neck to preserve and retain any contents remaining in the bottle or container. Such caps are known as pilferproof roll-on bottle closures. The bottom ring 27 is a seal to indicate whether the screw cap has been tampered with.

Such construction and procedures are well known in the art, but presents a number of difficulties.

One difficulty is that it sometimes reqires considerable strength to unscrew the screw cap. Another difficulty occurs when someone overtightens the screw cap on the bottle neck to an extent that the threads strip without removing the bottom ring 27, making it impossible to unscrew and difficult to remove the cap. Furthermore, if the bottle is pressurized because of carbonated or other gas in the fluid in the bottle, the cap can blow off the bottle or container.

Also it might be said that the apparatus of the screw cap is not decorative. The ratchet portion 16 of the cap is to give a better grip on the cap for unscrewing. but it yet has a rather small diameter making it difficult to unscrew the cap.

It is a purpose of this invention to obviate the above difficulties, by reducing the possiblity of stripping of the metal thread, to increase the mechanical advantage when unscrewing the cap, to improve the appearance of the closure, and to do that, with use of the ratchet portion 16 of the usual cap, in fact without needing any changes in the present screw cap.

To this end, there is provided an overcap 40 which may be rigid and made of hard plastic, poly-propulene, polystyrene, aerylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, phenolics, hard polyurethane or other hard or rigid or substantially hard or rigid material.

Said overcap 40 has a circular top wall 41 from which an annular skirted portion 42 extends downwardly to fit over the screw cap 15. Said skirted portion 42 has an outer surface 43 of bellied or outwardly curved vertical cross-section. At its vertical middle the overcap has a diameter substantially larger than the outer diameter of the screw cap.

Said skirted portion 42 is formed, adjacent the top wall 41, with an annular internal knurled or ratchet ring 44 complementary to and engaging the knurled or ratchet ring of the screw cap. Thus, ratchet portion 44 of the overcap has ridges 440 received in grooves 22, and grooves 44b receiving ridges 21, of ratchet 20. The ratchet portion 44 of the overcap is however of greater vertical length than the ratchet 20 of the screw cap 15, and extends below said ratchet 20.

Below ratchet 44, skirt 42 of the overcap has an annular internal cylindrical surface 45 of a diameter somewhat less than the outer diameter of the ridges or teeth 21 of the ratchet 20 of the screw cap, so that as the overcap 40 is snapped down onto the screw cap, the ridges 21 have to snap past surface 45 for engagement into the groove 44b of the ratchet 44.

Below surface 45 is an annular cylindrical surface 46 of somewhat greater diameter than surface 45. Below surface 46, the skirt of the overcap has a still slightly more enlarged diameter surface 47 extending to the lower end of the skirt 42. The lower end of skirt 42 is fairly thin, almost a line 48 disposed just above flange l2 and below the internal flange 28 of the screw cap.

It will now be understood that when the overcap 40 is turned in a counter-clockwise (opening) direction, it will unscrew the cap due to engagement of ratchets 44 and 20, to thereby sever the connecting portions 35. The increased diameter of the overcap makes it easier to unscrew the cap because of increased mechanical advantage for turning. Also the overcap is decorative because of its shape, it hides the screw cap, and it can be made in various attractive colors, and is smooth to feel and handle. The screw cap is completely hidden to view.

Furthermore, the screw cap remains in the overcap, when removed or unscrewed from the bottle, to facilitate its being rescrewed onto the bottle. If the overcap is turned excessively in a clockwise direction to screw the screw cap back onto the bottle, the threads of the screw cap will not strip because such excessive turning in a tightening direction will cause the overcap to rotate relative to the screw cap as the ratchet 44 turns on ratchet 20. Such relative rotation can be heard because of the clicking sound as the overcap rotates after the screw cap stops rotating.

This is a safety measure since it prevents caps being blown off pressurized bottle, by reason of the fact that the threads have not stripped.

Also, if a screw cap alone is turned in the opening direction, the bottom ring is severed. A servered ring indicates that the cap has been tampered with, even if the cap in fact has not been removed. All this is avoided and prevented by use of the overcap in combination with the screw cap.

In FIG. 7, the cap 40 is shown (with the removed screw cap hidden therein) above the top of the bottle on which the severed collar portion 27 remains.

The plastic overcap 40 is held in position on the screw cap by reason of the engagement of the matching knurled or ratchet portions 44, 20, and also by the fact that the knurled or ratchet portion 20 snaps past surface 45, into the knurled or ratchet portion 44. The overcap is thus prevented from being easily pulled off.

In FIG. 6 there is illustrated a modified construction. The screw cap is the same. The bottle is the same. The overcap 40a is the same as overcap 40 except that its internally knurled or ratchet portion is modified. In FIG. 6, the internally knurled portion of the overcap has teeth which are more inclined in one direction than in the other. The more inclined slopes provide for a more positive locking of the overcap to the screw cap when the overcap is turned in a counterclockwise (opening) direction to unscrew the cap. and also to permit easier rotating to the overcap in a clockwise (closing) direction, to facilitate relative rotation between the overcap and the screw cap.

A liner may be inserted against the under surface of the top wall of the screw cap.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a device in which the several objects of this invention are achieved and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative.

We claim:

1. The combination of an overcap and a screw cap, said overcap being of substantially rigid material and having a top wall, an annular skirt extending downwardly therefrom and formed at its inner surface with an annular knurled ring forming alternating vertical ridges and grooves, said screw cap having a top wall and a skirt and being formed with a knurled ring complementary to the knurled ring of the skirt of said overcap and engaged therewith, and being disposed within said overcap, engagement of said knurled rings being such as to rotate the overcap together with said screw cap in one direction, when the screw cap is free to rotate below and to rotate the overcap in said direction relative to the screw cap without damage to either the overcap or screw cap when the screw cap is not free to rotate.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein the screw cap is internally threaded and a container having a neck formed with external screw threads receiving the threads of said screw cap. the complementary knurled rings of said overcap and screw cap being such that the overcap'when rotated in a screw cap unscrewing direction will unscrew the screw cap from the neck of the container. and when rotated in a screw cap closing direction, will rotate relative to the screw cap after the screw cap has been fully screwed onto the screw threads of the neck of the container without damage to either the overcap or screw cap, to prevent stripping of the screw threads of said screw cap.

3. The combination of claim 1, the ridges of the knurled ring of said overcap, having surfaces inclined in one direction differently than in another direction.

4. The combination of claim 1, said screw cap being made of material softer than the material of which the overcap is made.

5. The combination of claim 2, said screw cap being made of material softer than the material of which the overcap is made.

6. An overcap made of substantially rigid material having a top wall and a skirted wall extending therefrom, a screw cap made of material softer than the material of said overcap and fitted within said overcap and having a top wall and a skirted wall formed with screw threads and cooperating means on the overcap and screw cap to rotate said screw cap in opposite directions upon rotating overcap in said opposite directions. respectively, said cooperating means being such as to rotate said overcap together with said screw cap in one direction when the screw cap is free to rotate in said direction, and to permit rotation of the overcap relative to said screw cap in said direction without damage to either the overcap or screw cap, when the screw cap is fully engaged and not free to rotate in said direction.

7. The combination of claim 6, and a container hav ing a neck formed with screw threads engaging the screw threads of said screw cap.

8. The combination of claim 6, said screw cap having an external portion larger than an internal portion of said overcap and adapted to snap past said portion of the overcap to hold said screw cap within said overcap after said screw cap has been inserted into said overcap.

9. The combination of claim 6, the skirt of said overcap having an outwardly enlarged outer surface. 

1. The combination of an overcap and a screw cap, said overcap being of substantially rigid material and having a top wall, an annular skirt extending downwardly therefrom and formed at its inner surface with an annular knurled ring forming alternating vertical ridges and grooves, said screw cap having a top wall and a skirt and being formed with a knurled ring complementary to the knurled ring of the skirt of said overcap and engaged therewith, and being disposed within said overcap, engagement of said knurled rings being such as to rotate the overcap together with said screw cap in one direction, when the screw cap is free to rotate below a and to rotate the overcap in said direction relative to the screw cap without damage to either the overcap or screw cap when the screw cap is not free to rotate.
 1. The combination of an overcap and a screw cap, said overcap being of substantially rigid material and having a top wall, an annular skirt extending downwardly therefrom and formed at its inner surface with an annular knurled ring forming alternating vertical ridges and grooves, said screw cap having a top wall and a skirt and being formed with a knurled ring complementary to the knurled ring of the skirt of said overcap and engaged therewith, and being disposed within said overcap, engagement of said knurled rings being such as to rotate the overcap together with said screw cap in one direction, when the screw cap is free to rotate below a and to rotate the overcap in said direction relative to the screw cap without damage to either the overcap or screw cap when the screw cap is not free to rotate.
 2. The combination of claim 1, wherein the screw cap is internally threaded, and a container having a neck formed with external screw threads receiving the threads of said screw cap, the complementary knurled rings of said overcap and screw cap being such that the overcap when rotated in a screw cap unscrewing direction will unscrew the screw cap from the neck of the container, and when rotated in a screw cap closing direction, will rotate relative to the screw cap after the screw cap has been fully screwed onto the screw threads of the neck of the container without damage to either the overcap or screw cap, to prevent stripping of the screw threads of said screw cap.
 3. The combination of claim 1, the ridges of the knurled ring of said overcap, having surfaces inclined in one direction differently than in another direction.
 4. The combination of claim 1, said screw cap being made of material softer than the material of which the overcap is made.
 5. The combination of claim 2, said screw cap being made of material softer than the material of which the overcap is made.
 6. An overcap made of substantially rigid material having a top wall and a skirted wall extendinG therefrom, a screw cap made of material softer than the material of said overcap and fitted within said overcap and having a top wall and a skirted wall formed with screw threads and cooperating means on the overcap and screw cap to rotate said screw cap in opposite directions upon rotating overcap in said opposite directions, respectively, said cooperating means being such as to rotate said overcap together with said screw cap in one direction when the screw cap is free to rotate in said direction, and to permit rotation of the overcap relative to said screw cap in said direction without damage to either the overcap or screw cap, when the screw cap is fully engaged and not free to rotate in said direction.
 7. The combination of claim 6, and a container having a neck formed with screw threads engaging the screw threads of said screw cap.
 8. The combination of claim 6, said screw cap having an external portion larger than an internal portion of said overcap and adapted to snap past said portion of the overcap to hold said screw cap within said overcap after said screw cap has been inserted into said overcap. 